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MUMBLINGS February 3, 2005
Facts and figures are usually interesting, hard to come by
and sometimes conflicting.
You faithful readers, no doubt, have noticed that over the
years this writer has been particularly interested in population and
information about various cities, counties and states. The interest
continues.
Incidentally, this column can be read in
many parts of the world by simply referring to
http://www.siteone.com/columns/faulkner.
Recently, I received the following e-mail
from "Chad":
"In your "mumblings" at
http://www.siteone.com/ columns /faulkner /articles /jf071003.htm you
write:
"With a population of 8,383,915, according
to 2001 Census information, Georgia is the largest state geographically, east
of the Mississippi River. With a total land area of 57,906 square miles, plus,
a water area of 1,522 square miles, it is 7,162 square miles larger than
Alabama, and the 24th largest state in the nation."
You are correct; Georgia is the 24th
largest state in the nation. But it is certainly not the largest state east of
the Mississippi River. This should be readily apparent considering there are
only 23 states west of the Mississippi, and Georgia is bigger than some of
those (Hawaii, Louisiana, and Iowa). So, obviously, some states east of the
Mississippi must be bigger than Georgia. And, indeed, three states are.
Michigan, at nearly 97,000 square miles, dwarfs Georgia, and Florida and
Wisconsin, at over 65,000 square miles apiece, are more than 6,000 square miles
bigger than Georgia.
Since I have written about Georgia
numerous times over the past 60 years, this specific column is not remembered,
but I am sure the gentleman is correct and I should have known better.
Here again are conflicting figures.
According to the 2003 World Almanac Georgia has 159 counties 57,906 square
miles of land; population of 8,383,519. According to the tour book on Florida
that the AAA puts out each year, the state has 58,560 square miles and ranks 22
in the United States.
The World Almanac of 2003 shows Florida
with 67 counties 53,927 square miles, land population with 16,396,515. The
above figures are both supposedly based on the 2000 federal census.
The same authority shows Michigan with 83
counties, 56,804 square miles with 9,990,817 population. Wisconsin has 72
counties, 54,310 square miles with a population of 5,401,906. New York is a big
state with 62 counties and a huge population of 19,011,378 but only 47,214
square miles of land. You probably remember that Alabama has 67 counties,
50,744 square miles with 4,464,356 people. Easily the largest state in the
nation, about four times larger than Texas, is Alaska with 571,951 square
miles, but with a population of only 634,892.
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